May 1, 2014

IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law students Jenna Holtz and Alexandra McNicholas have been awarded Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Summer Fellowships. Holtz and McNicholas will each receive $5,000 to support their work in summer public interest law positions.

"The fellowship seeks to promote the public interest and social justice values that have characterized Justice Stevens' work throughout his career," said IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Nancy S. Marder, who clerked for the justice from 1990 to 1992. "When Justice Stevens retired from the U.S. Supreme Court in 2010, his law clerks decided to expand the program. In 2011, IIT Chicago-Kent became one of the first schools that joined the program after the expansion."

Stevens Fellowships are open to first- second-, and third-year IIT Chicago-Kent students who have secured summer legal public interest positions at either not-for-profit organizations or governmental entities. Stevens Fellows are selected based on their commitment to public service and their potential for excellence throughout their legal careers.

Jenna L. Holtz is a second-year student who will spend the summer in the Office of the Cook County Public Guardian, where she has worked as a law clerk since January 2014. Holtz graduated with honors with a degree in political science from the University of Iowa. Prior to law school, she volunteered at Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia. During law school, Holtz has clerked for Cook County Circuit Court Judge Ronald F. Bartkowicz, worked as a law clerk at Cabrini Green Legal Aid, and volunteered at the Self-Help Web Desk at the Richard J. Daley Center.

First-year student Alexandra McNicholas is interested in public defense work, prisoners' rights and prison reform issues. McNicholas will spend the summer in New Orleans working at the Orleans Public Defenders Office, where she volunteered in January 2014 through the Student Humanitarian Network. She earned her undergraduate degree in foreign affairs with a minor in media studies from the University of Virginia. McNicholas has completed an externship with Cook County Circuit Court Judge Elizabeth Budzinski and currently volunteers at Cabrini Green Legal Aid.

Founded in 1888, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law is the law school of Illinois Institute of Technology, a private, Ph.D.-granting institution with programs in engineering, psychology, architecture, business, design and law.